Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Scaevola humilas cultivar Balscavbon.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Scaevola plant, botanically known as Scaevola humilas and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name xe2x80x98Balscavbonxe2x80x99.
The new Scaevola is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Arroyo Grande, Calif. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new Scaevola cultivars with freely branching growth habit and attractive flower and foliage coloration.
The new Scaevola originated from an open-pollination made by the Inventor in November, 2000, of unnamed proprietary Scaevola humilas selections, not patented. The cultivar Balscavbon was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled environment in Arroyo Grande, Calif. in 2000.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken at Arroyo Grande, Calif. since 2000, has shown that the unique features of this new Scaevola are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Balscavbonxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Balscavbonxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Upright and outwardly spreading plant habit.
2. Freely branching growth habit.
3. Medium green-colored leaves.
4. Numerous violet-colored flowers.
Plants of the new Scaevola differ from plants of the parent selections primarily in flower color and plant habit.
Plants of the new Scaevola can also be compared to plants of the cultivar Blue Wonder, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,929. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Arroyo Grande, Calif., plants of the new Scaevola and the cultivar Blue Wonder differed in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Scaevola were more compact than plants of the cultivar Blue Wonder.
2. Plants of the new Scaevola were more freely branching than plants of the cultivar Blue Wonder.
3. Plants of the new Scaevola had smaller leaves with shorter petioles than plants of the cultivar Blue Wonder.
4. Plants of the new Scaevola had smaller flowers than plants of the cultivar Blue Wonder.